Dealing with Anger and Jealousy
by Romantic Nerd
Summary: William and Julia are married, with a family, and working together again as detective and pathologist when they are forced to deal with a situation invoking anger and jealousy that must be dealt with for their relationship to grow.
1. Chapter 1

Dealing with Anger and Jealousy

After William and Julia were wed, life for each of them was glorious. They loved stronger and more passionately than either of them ever expected was possible – and often. Children came, the first - a son of their own, the next two -adopted sisters. They admired the parenting skills each brought to the family. Of course, there were some arguments, and if not resolved by bedtime then one of them slept downstairs on the couch. They followed the famous advice to never go to bed mad. It worked well for them. Probably partially as a result of being able to afford a nanny and other servants, they were able to keep their romantic flames lit and raise relatively happy and healthy children at the same time.

Julia had stopped working after the birth of their son, planning to return to work once a year had passed. When the year was up, her position at the asylum was no longer available. A position for a pathologist at stationhouse 3 had opened up. Dr. Grace agreed to take that position (possibly to be closer to George?), leaving the position at stationhouse 4 open for Julia to take. Both she and William were delighted to be able to work together again. It seemed that everyone enjoyed the entertainment offered up by their teasing and obvious love for each other. It quickly became apparent, however, that spending their working days together would put them each in a more direct line of sight of the other, allowing for ample observation of encounters the other had with flirtatious individuals. Jealousy came up often.

William still remained somewhat obtuse about the situation, seeming not to be able to notice the myriad of times women were coming on to him. When he did notice, he tended to blush and try to redirect the conversation. Julia's observation of these patterns generally led her to tease him about them mercilessly, increasing her desire to touch and kiss him – to make it clear to all around that he was hers. William liked it.

But when the object of a man's flirtations was Julia, William's reaction was to get angry. He controlled his thoughts of violence towards the would-be suitor for the most part, and his desires for mad possession of Julia were able to be put off until they were alone – but when they were finally alone after William had witnessed such an encounter, his lovemaking would be rough, demanding, and overpowering. Part of the problem was that Julia liked it.

One day, after William and Julia had been spotted sharing an intimate kiss in the morgue while supposedly discussing an autopsy (a somewhat common occurrence) Julia came rushing into the stationhouse looking for William. Perhaps it was because of their romance that she had missed it, and so he didn't know what he needed to know. A constable informed her that Detective Murdoch was interrogating a suspect, and being distracted by the sense of urgency of informing her husband of her latest finding about the time of death, she did not even notice that the Inspector was trying to wave her into his office. She found William interrogating the suspect and knocked on the door to interrupt him even though she knew he hated when people did so.

Julia swallowed and hurried to explain, "I'm sorry William, I know how much you hate interruptions when you are doing an interrogation, but this is relevant and important to your line of questioning."

He put her at ease by reaching up to tuck a stray curl behind her ear, "What have you?" he asked.

"It's the time of death – he died longer ago than I previously told you. I believe both lividity and temperature were manipulated after death. Somehow William, the body must have been turned or rotated constantly so that the blood would not pool to any one part of the body. Further, I believe the body was kept some place hot, keeping the temperature higher than would otherwise be the case. There are strange marks on the chest, buttocks, and ankles – I think from where the body was attached to a machine used to rotate the body," she explained and then she finally took a breath, "I thought you'd want to know right away."

William was momentarily distracted by his admiration for his wife. Truly a better partner could never be – so bright, enthusiastic..., and beautiful! He had to pull his eyes away from hers to focus on the case. "Yes, this new information is indispensible. He had an alibi for the original time of death. What is your estimated time of death now, doctor?" he asked.

"At least 24 hours sooner," she responded.

Knowing the suspect no longer had an alibi he said, "Constable, please escort the suspect back to the cells for now. Thank you." William gestured for Julia to accompany him to his office.

Once they were in his office, William asked Julia to describe the marks she had found on the body. Julia used William's body to demonstrate the locations and expanses of the bruises and lacerations on the corpse. She never got to describe the marks on the ankles because as she slid her hands across her husband's upper chest and around behind him to his shoulder blades he pulled her in close and lightly kissed her. The Inspector, Chief Inspector, and Mr. Meyers watched from the Inspector's office as the doctor dropped her hands to the detective's derriere and he responded by wrapping his arms even more tightly around her and kissing her much more deeply. "Does that happen often?" Mr. Meyers queried.

The Inspector looked at the Chief Inspector with worry on his face, "It's not that uncommon, but I ensure you, they accomplish more, despite their distractions, than anyone else ever could."

Mr. Meyers shook his head sideways, sighed, and said, "Murdoch's not going to like this… We might as well get it over with. Call them in Inspector."

The Inspector opened his office door and bellowed, "Murdoch, Dr. Ogden, a word!"

Immediately removing her hands from William's behind, Julia whispered into his ear, "uh-oh."

They separated and William made that adorable face with the lifted right side of his mouth that said, "Oh well, can't deny it," and they turned and headed for the inspector's office. They both became more anxious when they noticed the office's occupants.

William softly said, "The Chief Inspector _and_ Meyers, this can't be good."

William and Julia sat together on the Inspector's couch as Mr. Meyers explained why they were all there. In the interest of national security, the Prime Minister had sent him with a letter requesting the assistance of Dr. Ogden in obtaining essential data from a woman currently being held in a Russian prison. Ogden was to be acting as a spy – one that had to be a female of about 40 years old and one that could perform surgery. Hence, the need for Dr. Ogden. The plan was for Dr. Ogden to pretend to be Charlotte Perkins Gilman, an American feminist, sociologist and writer traveling to Russia with her second husband after a divorce, Houghton Gilman (played by Meyers) in order to interview female Russian prisoners for her latest book of poems. Once she got into the cell with "Angela Cranston" a Canadian spy who had a cartridge of data implanted in her abdomen, Dr. Ogden was to surgically remove the data cartridge and bring it to Meyers. The plan required Ogden and Meyers to be convincing as a married couple traveling from NYC to Moscow and back – a trip that would take about a month. According to the Chief Inspector, the constabulary intended to rise to the occasion and help Canada retrieve this much-needed information, and as Dr. Ogden was an employee of the Canadian government it was expected that she would play the part. He added that as Murdoch was also an employee of the Canadian government it was expected that he would allow for his wife to participate.

Murdoch's biggest concern was for Julia's safety. He argued that she should not go because she had a family – 3 children and a husband who needed her. Julia asked William if he would go if the situation were reversed. Admitting that he probably would, Murdoch conceded and Meyers and Dr. Ogden left for NYC to begin the ruse.

William would have to talk to their children when he got home that evening. He was most worried about the older of the two girls they had just adopted about six months ago, 4 year-old Katie. Katie and her little sister, Chelsea, had lost both of their parents, their mother dying only a year ago, before they were placed in the orphanage. Katie already struggled with nightmares and anxiety about being abandoned. He was sure this would not help. Further, he would miss her terribly. He was worried that he would lose her – that she would be captured, imprisoned, or killed. This worry was so prevalent that he hadn't dealt with the thought that Julia would be acting like she was Meyers' wife - yet. It turned out that he couldn't stop thinking about Meyers and his wife together. He became more and more jealous and more and more angry as the time slowly went by.

It was nearly midnight when the carriage pulled up to the Murdoch house. Meyers had insisted that he accompany Julia all the way to her house from the ship and then the train to ensure her safety, not to mention any future hope of a working relationship with her husband. He thanked her again for helping Canada and reminded her that she could never tell anyone about what had transpired in Russia under threat of being charged with treason and hung. It was assumed that this did not include her talking with her husband about it.

Julia was filled with worry as she entered their dark, peaceful home. She knew that there were two things that made her beloved husband angry – being jealous and being frightened of losing her. She had just spent the last month acting, for all of the world to see, as another man's wife and risking her life by sneaking into a dangerous Russian prison to obtain secret information. She knew William would be angry, she was not sure he would be able to be in control of that anger. She argued with herself in her head, "He should be proud of me for what I did, not angry at me. If anything he should be mad at the government, or maybe Meyers, for setting this up and asking me to take part… (finally) My God, I missed him so. Perhaps he will just be happy to see me back."

In the darkness she left her bag by the door, hung up her coat and hat, and as quietly as possible removed her shoes and headed up the stairs. All indications were that everyone, including William, was asleep. Although she knew it was not realistic, or even fair, she wished it would stay that way until morning. She tip-toed past their open bedroom door on the right (William had not closed it as they usually did - having taught their children not to barge in, allowing for the couple's privacy during their active and passionate love life, and now strongly drawing attention to the lack of such lovemaking in her absence). Julia continued past their son's bedroom (she would stop in there on her way back) and around the corner in the hall to the bedroom of their two daughters. She was most worried about Katie. Julia softly scooped the little four-year old girl up into her arms, covering her with kisses. "I'm back little one. All is well," she whispered to the partially-wakened child. She placed her back on her bed and kissed her goodnight. After reassuring herself that Chelsea was also well, Julia returned to their son's bedroom. He was a fairly sound sleeper, and slept right through Julia's soft kiss. Making an effort to stay quiet, she closed the boy's bedroom door behind her in the dark only to turn and find William standing behind her.

"Welcome back," he whispered, somehow managing to show no emotion. He then softly embraced Julia… gave her a light kiss on the lips. And then released her and walked into their bedroom.

She followed and closed the door. Although the room was dark, there was light coming in through the window from the moon. They could see each other relatively well. There was the smallest of pauses as they stood there staring at each other. Then William pulled her to him sharply. The whip of it made her gasp. He rested his head in her hair and took in a deep breath. He reached up and as he removed the pins to let her hair drop he said, again devoid of emotion, "I can smell him."

It evoked fear in her and she started to hear that one violin-string note slide in her ears. She felt her heart race and she found it hard to breathe. "Jealous and cool," she thought. She pleaded in her head for him to keep it enough under control to avoid regret while at the same time she knew he would have to get it out too. "Meyers does smoke the most disgusting-smelling cigars," she said in as apologetic of a tone as she could muster.

Her hair fell over her shoulders and William unbuttoned her blouse. She could hear his breathing – it was fast and deep. She was becoming aroused. She started to unbutton his pajama top, but he just reached down and pulled the whole thing over his head. She felt a pang of desire spread through her at the sight of his broad chest and wide shoulders. She placed her hands on his chest and explored passionately. William lightly moved his lips over hers as he asked just slightly above a whisper, "Did he kiss you?" He immediately kissed her, making it hard for her to answer, even though her state of arousal was high enough that she was having trouble formulating words as it was.

"Yes..," she slowly whispered, mouth open and waiting, "… but only publicly."

"Did you kiss him?" he asked as he switched the angle of the kiss and then pressed in to kiss her much harder. Julia's muscles were weakening, collapsing. She was fighting to stay tall and meet him.

"Yes," she replied as loudly as she could considering that her breath had been taken away.

"Did you put your tongue into him?" William's voice carried a bit more warning with it now.

"No. Never," she said holding her lips in place to tingle above his.

With this William drove his tongue into Julia's mouth and kissed her more deeply than she remembered ever being kissed before. She moaned in response. She felt the wall bang up against her back. William broke off the kiss and asked, "Did he put his tongue into you?"

She replied, "No, he didn't."

William abruptly turned her around so that her chest was pressed against the wall. He roughly unlaced her corset. "Good. He gets to live then," he said as she heard the laces slide and catch and jerk out of the corset before it was thrown to the floor.

He turned her back around to face him – still pressed up against the wall. "Did you sleep in the same bed?" he asked while he grabbed a handful of her hair and used it to press her head back into the wall harder.

It was impossible to separate her fear from her desire, thus she was not sure whether it was one of these or both that made her swallow and hesitate, before she said, "Yes, but sleep was all we did."

"Were either of you naked in each other's presence?" as he released her hair and placed his hands under her jaw and softly stroked her lips with his thumbs.

"No." She leaned in to nibble lightly on his lips. William moaned in response. She lit more on fire with the sound.

"Were you under the same covers with him?" William reached down for her knickers now.

"Yes," her voice scratchy and deep, her breathing shallow and quick.

"Did your bodies ever touch under those covers?" he sounded madder now and he pulled her knickers down with a jerk, causing her to gasp once again.

"Oh William," she said with a moan. "No, no. Our bodies never touched." She looked desperately into his eyes. They were so big and so dark.

There was a little twinkle for a moment as he said, "Good. He gets to live again."

Together they kicked away the clothing that had pooled at Julia's feet. Except for only a petticoat she was naked. He used his knee to push her legs further and further apart, and when he pressed his hips between them she could feel his erection strongly poking into her abdomen through his pajama bottoms.

"Did you dream, Julia?" followed by the feeling of his warm exhaled breath over her ear. Then sucking and licking while his hands swam around her belly, hips, and buttocks.

Her body reacted, it fell causing her insides to seem to flip up and over within her. He held her up with the pressure of his body against hers. "Yes William… I dreamt of you every night," her voice filled with desire for him, begging for him to make those dreams come true. To push himself inside of her - hard and deep, and over and over, again and again.

William left her there against the wall in the moonlit room and went over to the nightstand. He pulled off his pajama bottoms and put on a prophylactic and lubricant. Julia thought to herself that this was evidence that he was in control. She felt safe knowing he had the where-with-all and the care for her to do this (they both knew Julia would likely find a second pregnancy very hard to survive).

When William returned, he pressed his body firmly against hers once more and he asked, "Did Meyers observe you having any of these dreams about me?"

Her breathing jolted. She knew he was referring to dreams during which she clearly is having an orgasm. These were very arousing dreams, and though she commonly uses William's name, any man lying next to her when she moved and moaned this way would have been strongly affected. She also knew Meyers had noticed such dreams and had had the expected reaction. Her voice offered in an apologetic whisper, "Yes, I think so."

She saw what she thought looked like anger cover his face, but before she saw him even move she found herself chest plastered against the wall again with her petticoat pulled up over her head, being used to tie her hands together as William pinned them above her head into the wall. She remembered his erection. Her back arched in anticipation. She waited.

"When you snuck into the Russian cells, were you scared?" he said calmly, too calmly, into her ear.

"Yes," was all she could find, followed by a swallow.

"What were you afraid of, Julia?" he asked as she felt him line himself up to enter her.

Words started to pour out of her, "I was afraid they'd catch me – imprison me or kill me. I was afraid I'd never see you again. Never hear your voice or see your smile. Never feel you inside of me again."

He slammed into her hard and deep. She gasped. He wanted it to hurt. He thrust into her with all of his might. Julia moaned. She cried out his name.

"Give it to me William. All of it, as hard as you can," she pleaded.

He did just that. Quite quickly Julia's muscles rippled around him as she declared, "Oh yes. Oh yes." William's spasms followed right behind – the only sound he made was her name, "Julia!"

Finished, he pulled out of her and turned her around to face him, dropping the petticoat to the ground and freeing her for a brief moment before he leaned his body into hers again. Both with pounding hearts against their chests, lungs heaving up and down. He filled his hands with her hair and planted his face into her curls. "The smell of him on you infuriates me." He said and then pushed himself off of her.

Alone against the wall, she wanted him – close to her, loving her. She forced herself to move. She went into the water closet, turned on the shower, and stepped in. She hoped to wash away more than just the smell of Meyers. "Could William's anger be washed down the drain too?" she thought.

After cleaning himself up a bit, William sat, still and naked, on the edge of the bed. He felt regret. He fought with himself. He knew this wasn't Julia's fault. It was really nobody's fault. He had to let it go. "Julia is fine. She's safe. She's home. She still loves me and only me," he heard his own voice reasoning. "She walked in the door and made efforts to reassure our children … and me of her undying love. She faced the truth honestly and bravely. Oh, how I struggled to keep it under control. She loved me even as I showed her my darkest side… She has told me that she likes it when my feelings for her are so strong that they cause me to lose control. I only wish I hadn't wanted to hurt her. That part of it is disgusting. Oh, how I wish I could take it back."

Julia, naked, clean, - beautiful, came to sit next to William on the bed. The warmth he'd come to know in her presence re-blossomed through him. "Oh my God I love this woman so that it hurts," he thought to himself. Feeling the way he was, he knew that when he turned to look at her she would see – she would know, that his love for her had not been deterred. It would always burn inside of him.

No words. He inhaled and turned to face her. If anger was still in there, it was completely drowned out by the glowing love he felt for her. She took his cheek in her hand, held his chocolate eyes in hers. He wanted to make love to her just like this - gazing into each other's eyes, each watching their soul mate as their bodies felt the waves of passion and desire for each other being fulfilled. …But honesty pulled at him. He looked away. Julia waited. She knew he would work up the nerve to voice it. She just needed to be patient.

"Did I hurt you?" he asked.

"Yes, I guess a little. But honestly William, it felt really good too… I was very aroused. You know I've told you that sometimes I like our lovemaking to be rough," she turned him to her as she held him by his shoulders, even somewhat shaking him as she did so.

William's eyes lifted and tried to hold hers before shame overtook them and they dropped away again. "Julia, I am so ashamed," his voice began to crack a little. He was starting to fill with tears. "I wanted to hurt you. I'm so sorry. I can't believe that I would ever want to hurt you. I know it's not your fault that you were with Meyers, that you took on this assignment. But I felt so jealous and so scared. I don't think I could really tolerate it. I felt so helpless. The anger seemed to cure the helplessness. God, I feel sick."

Julia took needed time to think about what she could say to relieve his suffering. "William, please forgive yourself for this," she said. "You didn't hurt me, even if you wanted to. I know you love me and I trust you completely."

Her words lightened his burden. "Trust," he thought.

The kiss was soft at first, both of them tasting the salt from his tears, but it grew in intensity quickly. They made love. Then they went to sleep – together. Nobody was on the couch tonight.

The next morning, they made love again (morning was really William's favorite time). Fortunately they were finished before the little knocks at the door begged for invitations into the large bed for all the family to horse play and giggle and welcome their mommy, and his wife, home.


	2. Chapter 2: Making 'Scents' of Jealousy

Dealing with Anger and Jealousy Part 2

Julia led their 3 children to the bathroom in the hall where they were joined by their nanny (Claire-Marie) who offered to help the children get cleaned up and dressed for the day so that Julia could get herself dressed for work. When Julia returned to the bedroom, William was in their bathroom shaving, dressed in his trousers, suspenders dangling down just above his knees. She leaned against the door frame admiring the view. (She knew he was aware of her presence and that he was enjoying the fact that she found pleasure in watching him). Tapping some of the excess shaving cream off the razor into the sink, and reaching up to work on his left jaw, he slyly said, "Julia if you persist in studying me so, I'm going to wipe this shaving cream off my face and back you up against that door and have my way with you – making us even later for work."

Julia was truly struggling with the choices he had given her, "It could be rather quick…, (she thought) … All he need do is lift her nightgown, drop his trousers, … oh yeah, prophylactics." That decided it. She pushed herself off of the door frame, came behind him, wrapping her arms around him to enjoy the sensations of stroking his battered but extremely sexy chest, and whispered in his ear, "So little time, such a shame."

"Mmm, wise choice," he said as he seemed to completely ignore her and stay focused on his shaving.

She separated from him and began her mad dash to dress herself. She turned her back to him and pulled her nightgown over her head. William of course watched her in the mirror as she did this – and the result was an involuntary surge of heat down in his groin – quickly growing heat. He chuckled to himself and pushed away the thoughts and urges, forcing himself to look away. He was finished with the sink and Julia needed it now anyway, so he went into the bedroom to finish dressing.

He was tying his last shoe, and was finished dressing, albeit for his vest and jacket, by the time Julia had finished in the bathroom and had gotten her knickers, stockings, and camisole on. "William, could you help with the corset," she asked. He came to stand behind her, seeing himself as well as his wife in the mirror. She handed him the corset, but he ended up dropping it to the floor as he gave in to his desires – pushing her hair aside, smelling her fragrance deep into his lungs before nibbling and kissing her neck, and softly bringing his hands around her to cup and fondle her warm, supple breasts through the lacy fabric of the camisole. She moaned and melted backwards into him, feeling his growing erection against her backside. They watched together in the mirror as he brought her breasts together to form the most exquisite cleavage and his thumbs and fingers called up her nipples to come out and play. A moan escaped her from her throat.

"William, you really must stop," she whispered as she lifted her arms over her head to reach back and press her nails into his hair where it met his neck, "You really, really must."

"I can't," was all he was able to say.

Recognizing that they had not felt this strongly attracted to each other since their honeymoon years ago, Julia sighed, and as she turned around to face him she broke free of his embrace, holding onto his hands, and keeping them together as she looked him in the eye and said, "My love, we are not on our honeymoon. Our children are waiting for us … and our work. We must go." She reached down to find the discarded corset, placed it under her breasts and turned around once more. With a strong mustering of his self-control, William laced it up for her and then quickly finished dressing himself and headed downstairs to leave her to finish dressing and join them at breakfast.

He heard Claire-Marie and their children already around the breakfast table as he came down the stairs. When he came into the kitchen the children called out happy greetings to their father, almost forgetting that they had just enjoyed their favorite rough-housing antics upstairs in their bed earlier. He enthusiastically greeted each one, as well as Claire-Marie, a renewed, "Good morning," before he approached their cook/housekeeper, Eloise, to thank her for her wonderful cooking. Julia and William had speculated for years that Eloise kept track of their love-life by counting the number of little packets of discarded prophylactics in the bathroom garbage pail, and he found himself smugly smiling as he thought of her finding the evidence of three romantic encounters in the mere 7 hours that Julia had been home.

Julia joined them quite quickly, making sure to also address Eloise, who had made Julia's favorite breakfast – French toast, surely indicating that she had ascertained her mistress' return. During the breakfast conversation, Julia told her children that she intended to spend some special, one-on-one time with each of them, and leaning into Katie who was seated next to her, she asked her if she knew what she would want to do with her mother. Katie excitedly replied that she wanted to go to the ballet, and it was decided that the two of them would go Friday, tomorrow, night.

Knowing that William Jr. was going to be later than usual to school, William and Julia quickly laid out their traveling plans – Julia would take a carriage to the morgue and William would ride his bike to the stationhouse, as he would need it throughout the day. William Jr. would get a ride to school standing on the back of William's bike. William had been taking his son to school this way while Julia was away and it seemed the boy really liked it. Arriving at school, William Jr. hopped off the bike and ran up to his friends, William overheard one of the boys say, "That looks like such a fun way to get to school!" Another boy added, "My father brings me in his motor car." William thought, "Uh-oh, I was wondering if there might be some problems with the wealthy children's assessment of William Jr.'s lowly detective father here at this posh school. I'll have to ask if he would rather find a different way to go to school," as he pedaled off at top speed to try to minimize his inevitable tardiness.

When William came into the stationhouse, he barely had picked up his messages before the Inspector came out of his office to tease him, "Well, obviously Murdoch's wife is back… you're back to being late again, hey Murdoch!" Predictably, the stationhouse filled with little chuckles. "Murdoch, a word," he added before he strutted back into his office. William saw Meyers waiting in the office and tried to mentally prepare himself to be reasonable about his jealousy.

Meyers quickly approached him with an extended hand, cigar in the other, and said, "Murdoch, I do hope we can still be friends after the "affair" with your wife."

Failing to completely hide his flinch, William reciprocated, meeting Meyers' hand firmly (a bit too firmly) for the handshake, "I'm making an effort at it," he replied, noticing the smell of the cigar and his newly heightened visceral reaction to it.

Wanting to minimize the potential conflict and discomfort, the Inspector rushed in to explain why he had called Murdoch in, "Murdoch, be sure to be here around at 11:00 because the Prime Minister is coming in personally to thank Dr. Ogden for her excellent work on this … case."

"Oh, that's wonderful, sir," William beamed. It seems that the pride he felt for his wife had finally risen to the surface through the anger and jealousy.

Soon after looking over his messages, William took off on his bicycle to investigate the latest crime involving the theft of some jewels and a prostitute. While out he would also go to the bank to get money to purchase the ballet tickets for Julia and his daughter and a dozen roses to be delivered to the morgue. Returning, he rapidly pedaled up to the stationhouse, rushing to be there before 11:00. He was parking his bike as Julia approached from behind him.

She tilted her head and called out with a smile, "William, have you been summoned too?"

He tried not to sound too excited as he answered, "Yes, 11:00," and extended his elbow for her to join him. They went to his office first where he dropped of his hat.

"Don't you want to take off your jacket, William? You look quite overheated from your bicycling," Julia said.

"No, I want it on for this," he said as he leaned into her, fighting the urge to wink.

"William, do you know something about this? What…?" she queried.

William could not hide his glee as he took her hand and quickly led her along to the Inspector's office. Waiting inside were the Inspector and Meyers. Julia greeted each one, huddling closer to William when she addressed Meyers. William and Julia sat together on the Inspector's couch and Meyers spoke about the adventures he and Dr. Ogden had shared. Within a few minutes, there was a subtle commotion out in the stationhouse and the Chief Inspector and the Prime Minister were escorted into Brackenreid's office. The Prime Minister awarded Dr. Ogden a plaque acknowledging her for serving her country and added that, not only had she helped Canada obtain essential information, she had also helped the Americans – handing off important data and the whereabouts of one of their best spies. Julia was clearly humbled, but very happily thanked him for the recognition.

Stopping off in William's office before heading back to her morgue, which clearly needed much attention due to her month-long absence, Julia was peppered with kisses and admiration from her husband. He pulled out the ballet tickets and she was pleased to see had purchased excellent seats. "William, get yourself mentally prepared for the fact that I will be buying Katie a special dress to wear to the ballet. It will be one of those expenses that tends to stress you out – being non-essential, but I know it will make her oh so happy," Julia said as she stroked his tie.

"It certainly will do that," he said reassuring her that he was coming to terms with their shared spending habits.

Upon arriving back in the morgue, she was greeted by a vase full of 12 yellow roses surrounded with sprinkles of the lovely, tiny, white flowers of baby's breath. They had been delivered while she was out. There was a card. Joy swam through her heart as she read it, "Julia, yellow roses to represent our wedding day and baby's breath to represent our children. Flowers to represent my love for you. Welcome home, "Mrs. Murdoch," With endless love and devotion, William." She carried the flowers to her desk, clearing the slab for a potential body, humming away while she then hung the plaque up on the wall with her degrees and certifications.

Julia went home a little early as there were no bodies to work on currently and the morgue had been adequately re-organized. She was able to play with the children for a few hours before William got home and they all sat down to dinner. A place was set for Claire-Marie also, but she asked if she could have the night off now that both the detective and the doctor were home to care for the children. William answered, "Claire-Marie, you have been going above and beyond the call of duty these past few weeks. Let me get you a little extra. I'm sure it will help with your time out tonight." He had been paying her five dollars extra each week while Julia had been away but he hadn't paid her yet this week. When he checked his wallet, he only had three dollars. "Julia, do you have any money, I'd like to give her five dollars?" he asked.

"Well I definitely have money in my purse, but I'm pretty sure it's all Russian money," she said.

William Jr. excitedly begged to see the strange money, followed mere seconds later by the bouncing requests of his two sisters as well.

Julia tried to calm them down, "Let's wait till after dinner, O.K?"

"O.K. Mommy," said William Jr., followed by Katie and Chelsea. William and Julia shared a look. They had always adored it when William Jr. said these words, "O.K. Mommy or O.K. daddy." He had been doing it since he could barely talk. The simple expression, in his little boy voice, demonstrated so clearly his sweet disposition. They each had the habit of re-whispering the words into the other's ear after they had been uttered by their son – Julia whispering, "O.K. Daddy," into William's ear and William saying, "O.K. Mommy," into Julia's ear. They were both secretly thrilled when their two adopted daughters seemed to pick up the habit.

William gave Claire-Marie the three dollars he had, making sure to let her know that he would give her the rest after he could get to the bank and she headed off into the night.

The dinner conversation came around to what book Daddy had been reading to the children since Mommy was away. "Gulliver's Travels," Julia exclaimed, "What an exciting book!" With a hint of a frown she said to William, "I do hope you are doing a bit of editing as you read it?"

Feeling judged, William replied, "Of course."

The family moved to re-convene in the parlor where traditionally they began preparations for bed by the shared reading of a chapter or two from the current book. Eloise offered to bring in hot chocolate before she retired for the evening, bringing about cheers all around. She chuckled to herself as she overheard William attempt to reassure his wife that the stories from Gulliver's Travels were appropriate for the children, arguing that the theme – traveling – coincided with their mother's traveling and adventures.

"What did they think about Gulliver's urinating to put out the fire?" she asked.

"They loved it," he said with a smile. "I do admit though that I hadn't put enough thought into the choice. They did make the association to your travels, and they were worried that you might be tied up somewhere like Gulliver was. It took quite a bit of talking to convince them that this was a made up story and the same thing couldn't possibly happen to you."

As soon as the parents entered the parlor, the children optimistically reminded their mother that she had said they would get to see the foreign money. Julia turned back to get her purse. William sat down in the reading chair, a large, comfy reclining chair, and invited little Chelsea to join him on his lap. His mind rushed a bit ahead to envision the children's reactions to seeing the Russian money. His stomach flipped over as he heard Meyers' voice in his head say, "This is a matter of national security, revealing it is punishable by death."

Julia had already returned with the purse and sat down, clearly planning to empty the contents on the little table between them. Alarm in his voice William said, "Julia! …"

As soon as her eyes met his she figured out the problem. She quickly closed the bag. "Does anybody remember which country the money is from?" she asked.

William Jr. yelled out, "Russia!"

Katie followed right behind him, "Yes, Russia."

From a top of William's lap, two-year old Chelsea added, "Wussia!"

William and Julia looked at each other worriedly. William said, "We'll have to tell them to keep it a secret."

Julia lifted her purse up and put it behind her back, getting every one's attention. Her voice serious and low she leaned into her family and said, "I know you are a little too young to know how to keep secrets, but your daddy and I have to ask you to try now. Nobody is ever supposed to know where mommy went. They can't know what kind of money mommy had. All you know, all you can ever say to your friends, (looking at William Jr.) your teachers, is that your mommy went away on business, but you don't know where. O.K?"

Each of the children agreed. All they could do was to hope that any details about Julia's mission would never get out.

William lifted Chelsea with him as he stood up out of the chair. Calmly he said to Julia, "Here, you better be the reader tonight," as he handed the toddler off to her. He whispered in her ear, "Claire-Marie."

He hurried into the kitchen to catch Eloise just as she finished loading all the hot chocolates on the tray. "Eloise, we made a bit of a mistake. No one should know where Julia went. I have to ask you to do your very best to keep from revealing it to anyone," he said, waiting for her reply.

"Of course, detective," Eloise said trying to erase the discussion about the Russian money from her mind.

William visibly breathed in a sigh of relief. Then worry took over his face again and he asked, "Do you know where Claire-Marie might have gone?"

Eloise seemed to put her attention back to the tray of hot chocolates, but said, "Oh dear. Well, if she's with her girlfriends, they're probably at "Minnie's Tea House," but if she's out with her beaux she could be anywhere." She lifted the tray and headed into the parlor.

"Thanks," William said as he rushed to put on his shoes, ran out of the house, and jumped on his bicycle. He pedaled as fast as he could. His mind was racing too, "If I'm lucky, she'll be there. If I hurry maybe I can stop her from telling the juicy news to her friends."

When William prepared to walk into Minnie's Tea House he became self-consciously aware of the fact that he had removed his jacket, vest, and tie before dinner. His shirt sleeves were rolled up and his top buttons were undone. Nodding to himself he thought, "Well, maybe it's good. I will be a little harder to recognize." He saw Claire-Marie leaning over the table talking to two young women. They seemed to be very interested in what she was saying. They both lifted their eyes off of Claire-Marie to rest on him as he approached the table. Claire-Marie turned around to see him and exclaimed, "Detective, how exciting to see you here. Melanie, Linda, this is my employer, Detective Murdoch."

Both ladies ogled him. "Please join us detective. We have heard so much about you," one said, gesturing to the chair between the two women. The other quickly added, "From the newspapers as well as from Claire-Marie. We're quite your fans." Their eyes surveyed up and down his body, and he inwardly cursed himself for his more casual and revealing state of dress. Suspecting that Claire-Marie might have already told them about his wife's secret government trip to Russia, he decided he had best sit and talk with them. They practically shoved each other in an effort to be the one to pour his tea for him. Throughout the conversation, which he did finally bring around to what Claire-Marie had shared about Dr. Ogden's trip, the ladies each had at one point or another found ways to touch him – cover his hand, rest their head on his arm. They were unabashedly direct about how attractive they found him to be. All he seemed to be able to do was blush, look away, remove himself from their hands or heads or whatever was touching him, and draw the conversation back to what they had discussed before he had gotten there. It was Claire-Marie who finally pointed out to her friends that the man they were publicly drooling over was married. William kicked himself as it became obvious that he should have done this himself earlier, but as one is always learning as they go through life, he felt a surge of power in that he now was aware of a more effective tool to use for this problem in the future.

His detecting skills led him to the conclusion that Claire-Marie had not shared the important piece of information with them, so he thanked them for the tea as he stood up to leave. Seeming a bit embarrassed, he asked Claire-Marie for a word. Huddled off to the side he first asked her if she had shared about the money, hence location, of Julia's trip. Fortunately she reaffirmed his suspicions and said that she had not. Stressing the importance, he asked her to keep that little detail to herself, using his presence here for her outing as an indication of the necessity for doing so. Finally, he had to ask her to pay for his tea because, as she already knew, he didn't have any money.

Hoping to get back in time to participate in the family ritual of putting the children to bed, William pedaled nearly as fast on the way home as he had to the Tea House, but it was more uphill in this direction. He was sweaty and winded when he dashed up the stairs to join Julia in the tooth-brushing, face washing, pajama choosing, and over-all delaying tactics such as tell me another story please, traditions the family had made.

He found William Jr. alone in the hall water closet, finishing washing up. He was already in his pajamas. William checked once again that he was prepared for school tomorrow. He asked him if he had thought of something special he wanted to do with his mother. William Jr. asked his father for some ideas. William suggested something new, something he hadn't really learned how to do yet, "How about swimming? Your mother is a very good swimmer. She even saved my life one time."

"That sounds good, daddy. That's what I'll pick," he said reaching up to get a hug. William lifted him up and carried him to the bed. With William's arms stretched out in front of him, he instructed William Jr. to lay out flat across his arms and kick his legs and move his arms in circles – like he was swimming. "Let's do a little swimming practice. Stroke! Keep up the little kicks!" he coached. William Jr.'s dad spun him around in a circle before plopping him down on the bed. "You get yourself under the covers and your mommy and I will be right back to tuck you in," he whispered.

Still sweating and a little winded, William joined Julia to tuck in the girls. Julia had been talked into another story, this time Goldilocks. He recognized it as the quick version as he leaned over to give his wife a kiss. She reached up from where she was sitting on Katie's bed and hugged him. The girls called for him to come kiss them good night. He happily did so. Julia turned out the light and left the door a jar.

Finding they were alone for a moment, the couple embraced. William told her the "Russian problem" seemed to be under control. Julia had tucked her head into William's neck to kiss him. "Do I detect a fragrance that is unfamiliar to me?… another woman's perfume perhaps?" she said slyly.

"Well, Claire-Marie's friends were a little … hands-on," William said. He wrinkled up the right side of face, a look she'd come to recognize as meaning something like, "Caught, …but aren't I still cute." She rolled her eyes.

William asked Julia what she thought about William Jr.'s school friend's reactions to his riding on his father's bike to school. Julia felt that they should do whatever they want to do and not concern themselves with the gossipy masses. She was pretty sure their children were going to get a lot of teasing about their unconventional ways and they'd better start getting used to it.

Julia kissed William Jr. goodnight and left William to ask him about going to school on the bike. William Jr. definitely wanted to continue riding with his father on the bike to school. All tucked in, William closed the boy's door and headed to their bedroom.

He was a little disconcerted when he found their bedroom door closed. He hesitated and considered possible hypotheses. Either, Julia closed the door because she was angry about the flirtations with Claire-Marie's friends (problem), or she was just undressing and wanted to make sure none of the children would come in unexpectedly (no problem). William swallowed and gently opened the door, stepped in, and closed it behind him.

The room had been prepared for romance – lights off, candles lit. "Hypothesis two," he thought with a sigh of relief. He took a sharp breath upon seeing Julia's naked, silky rear-end poking out of the closet as she bent over to put away some dirty clothes. His own anatomy amazed him as he felt the immediate sharp rise in his groin. "She takes my breath away. Oh my God how I want her," he thought.

Julia closed the closet door and turned to face him. Although she was completely naked, he was drawn by her eyes. "Bedroom eyes," he thought, she's stunning."

She placed her hands on her hips and then wiggled them a little to the left and right. Teasingly she said, "Come here husband." Wild horses couldn't keep him away from her. He pulled his suspenders off his shoulders as he approached her, stopping at the point that only the hairs on her body could touch him. Julia reached up to undo the buttons of his shirt, keeping her eyes focused on her work. He felt her breath just above her hands in the nook created as the shirt opened. Keeping his hands at his sides, his breathing was rapid; he was clearly already quite aroused.

"There seems to be some makeup on your shirt sleeve here, William…and the faint scent of another woman," she whispered as she traced the area with her fingers. She lifted her eyes to meet his, pushed the shirt off his shoulders and down his arms to fall on the floor, and said as she held her lips floating over his, "I thought that I was the only one for you?"

"You are, you definitely are," William said as he reached down and grabbed the bottom of his damp undershirt, pulling it off over his head. The pungent odor of his underarms drifted up into their nostrils.

Julia took a deep breath and exhaled with a, "Hmm." Her hands glided up his stomach and over his chest. Her lips still above his she said, "You're going to need one of those showers you invented – all that pumping on your bicycle today." William reached up to touch a stray curl. How they both wanted him to touch more substantial things – it was such sensuous torture. Julia reached behind her head to remove a hairpin, raising her breasts enough that her nipples glanced against his chest, eliciting a moan to escape from his throat. William exhaled long and slow, blowing across the skin on Julia's neck and creating a soft rumbling sound in her ear. He raised both arms up to reach back behind her head, feeling his way to remove more hairpins.

The whiff of him, his arms raised, his biceps softly flexed - an uncontrollable urge overtook her. She needed to smell him, to take him deep inside of her. Julia lowered her head and nipped William's bicep where it sunk down into his armpit. She took in a building, deep breath. Using a hand to ensure to keep him exposed, she turned to rub her cheek across his armpit. Then her chin, her other cheek, her ear, her hair. She kissed, and licked, and sucked, and nibbled. She lowered her hand and unbuttoned his trousers. The pants slid to the floor along with his underwear as she reached in to stroke and fondle his penis. William kicked off the garments, now only wearing his socks. Julia switched her kissing and licking to his other armpit, pushing open the space with her nose and sucking in his scent along with much needed oxygen. Her body was wriggling all over his, wherever she could come into contact with him.

Finally her hair was freed and fell down over her shoulders. "William, I want your scent all over me. Cover me with it. Fill me with it," she pleaded.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and lifted her legs up to clasp herself onto his hips. William held her body to his as closely as possible and carried her this way to the bed. As he crawled onto the bed, she hung under him. Once her head reached the pillows, he dropped down on top of her. She pushed against him to roll him over and he acquiesced, allowing her to lie on top of him. She slid and wiggled all over him – shoulders in his armpits, thighs across his groin, breasts between his legs. When she rested her head for a brief moment on his chest, he smelled himself on her. It flashed through his mind how the smell of Meyers' cigars on her yesterday had sent him into a near frenzy of anger and jealousy that he had to struggle with all his might to keep under control. He'd been highly aroused, but now he could not hold back any longer. He started to thrust and he wasn't even inside of her.

Julia sat up to straddle him, pushing down on him to try to contain his thrusts. "Wait," she said as she looked deeply into his gorgeous eyes for what seemed to be the first time for a long time. She reached across the edge of the bed to get a prophylactic out of the bedside table drawer. She put it on him. Wet with desire, she quickly floated over him and then slowly, but in one smooth move, slid herself around him. She lowered her chest to lie on top of him, lifting his arms above his head as she did so. She managed to get a few kisses under his arms before he rolled her over covering her with his weight and started pumping deeply into her. She moaned and gasped. "Ohhh," she exhaled, "that feels so good." William sensed she was close to her climax and let himself go. His thrusts grew faster and stronger, powered by his tight bicycling muscles, he released grunts with the effort. Her body arched up into him causing her name to escape his lips. "Julia," his raspy voice hung over her ear. The sound drove her to completion. Her muscles rippled in waves around his penis, sucking the orgasm out of him. "Mmm, William," she uttered as the motion softly slowed.

They cuddled together in the sweat and the afterglow, feeling and listening as their heartbeats quieted, their breathing eased. Eventually Julia spoke, "I'm not going to wash you off of me William. No shower tonight."

William let the symbolism of the words sink into his head. "She wants me to know, anyone else to know too, that she is with me – she's mine at the most primal level," he thought. He lifted himself up on his elbow to ensure she could see his sincerity and its subtle mix with humor and argued, "Although I'm flattered to know that you are so enamored by my strongest odors, and I myself much prefer this scent to that of Meyers' and his stinky cigars, I must say that my favorite scent on you – the one that heats up my heart, and my groin, and spins my mind – is the scent of you, Julia. Please, please take a shower. How about one with me?"

Julia shook her head and rolled her eyes and then said, "Once again your logic is infuriating… and yes, before you say it, it is also winsome – very, very winsome." She wiggled her way out from under him and stood up. Offering him a hand, she said, "Let's go make the Murdochs presentable."

A few minutes later under the watery roar of the shower: "Julia, where's the soap?" "See if you can find it William!"


End file.
